Come Rain or Shine

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Solving the Deficiency in Efficiency Jan 24, 2019

Show notes

After previously discussing the third key of show, in this episode, I rejoin the podcast to discuss our fourth and final key, efficiency.

While making the right decision is important, understanding the order of those right decisions is just as, if not, more important. Like safety, courtesy, and show, efficiency does not exist in a vacuum. As such, whatever requires our immediate focus must exist under a defined set of processes and procedures to ensure issues are timely dealt with.

Unfortunately, people can often become over-focused to the point efficiency encroaches on the other keys. This is why at Disney we tell our employees if you want to deliver an excellent experience as opposed to a good one, you must integrate people's patience into each of the other keys. In this way, efficiency becomes a part of safety, courtesy, and show as opposed to its separate island.

I also explain the difference between problem and dilemma, how to prioritize in the heat of tension, and how to use stories to shape behaviors.

Immersing the Guest in the Show Jan 17, 2019

Show notes

After previously discussing the second key of courtesy, in this episode, I rejoin the podcast to discuss our third key, show.

Once people are safe and secured in a highly courtesy environment, it's important to focus on infrastructure. First impressions are important as they cement the memory for most people. Accordingly, staying in character, paying attention to maintenance and cleaning issues, even the background music must be set just right.

Since the value of the show is helping people feel right where they are, it's important to emphasize attention to detail. While performance and customer service are clear examples of direct show, for many the indirect elements such as the wood, odor, color, and glass can prove just as memorable.

If you want to improve your show from a design perspective, evaluate the areas needing the most creative touch. Similarly, with performance, think about what your customer will sense and how they want to interact before and after the main event.

Ultimately by developing simple checklists while setting specific expectations, you will add a lot of value not only to the experience but everyone associated it.

Setting Courtesy Expectations Jan 10, 2019

Show notes

After previously discussing the first key of safety, in this episode, I rejoin the podcast to discuss our second key, courtesy.

While safety comes first, having guidelines and setting behavioral expectations for courtesy is important. Like safety, courtesy should never be compromised despite the fact courtesy can have different meanings to different people. Accordingly, how corporate guidelines are established is critical since granting employees the freedom to make exceptions can be an empowering experience.

I also explain why guidelines are better than rules, how courtesy fits into situations when safety is and isn't at risk, and how smart hires involve people with not only the right personality, but value set as well. When in doubt, if the hire values courtesy, they will employ it in difficult situations when it's not an automatic response.

The Relationship Between Safety and Culture Jan 03, 2019

Show notes

If you've ever wondered what Disney considers its greatest quality control measure, safety, far and away, tops the list.

After previously unveiling the four keys Disney uses to create magic (i.e. safety, courtesy, show, and efficiency), in this episode, I discuss the relationship between safety and culture as well as performance and awareness.

No question, we live in an increasingly distracted world. For many businesses, this means safety is not only compartmentalized from present culture but also misunderstood concerning its future benefits.

For instance, an accident an employee has today can be the result of a decision made years earlier. Unfortunately, with more distractions come more reactionary policies and lagging procedures; however, by staying ahead of accidents as opposed to responding to them, business leaders can profit as they enhance the reputations of their safety operations.

My advice is to start where you are and slowly work your way out. Do what you can. You're not going to fix everything, but by giving attention to your morale, you will boost all modes of environmental safety moving forward.

The Four Keys to a Great Customer Experience Dec 27, 2018

Show notes

At Disney World, we used Four Keys to engineer a great experience for every guest.

Safety
Curtesy
Show
Efficiency

We call them the four quality standards. These standards give us a way to put behaviors behind our concepts like "creating magic" or "creating an escape for guests".

With the quality standards in place, it gives our leaders and cast members a frame work on how to make decisions. With the framework comes clarity. With clarity comes consistency.

Think about how consistent the service and experience is at Walt Disney World. When over 75,000 cast members are on the same page about quality standards, you can understand the power of the four keys.

In this episode of Come Rain or Shine, I explain why they four keys are in the order they are in, and why it matters to create a great guest experience.

If a guest does not have a great time at Disney World, it comes from a break down in these four quality standards.

Every business can apply quality standards. You don't have to use the same standards as Disney, but you do have to be solid and consistent in your standards.

When standards are in place, employees can understand when and how exceptions they can make.

Consistent standards are how culture happens. When the whole team is working from the same quality standards, behaviors start to ripple through the entire organization.

Creating Clarity in Communication Dec 20, 2018

Show notes

If you've ever wanted to know how to better lead through effective communication, you must hone the bottom line of your expectations.

In this episode, I discuss the importance of communication, its benefit on organizational culture, and how greater clarity can enhance objective outcomes.

Whether you're a supervisor or supervisee, at the end of the week, it's critical for employees to have a platform to share what they know. In our case, I encourage each of my employees to share three topics – three things they think I should know. By promoting group-wide participation, I can then integrate their responses into future projects, presentations, and business meetings. I always emphasize the goal behind the request which is to understand specifics from a personal, surface level as opposed to an aerial one.

As a leader, helping my employees understand the process of knowledge transfer is key to how I manage their contributions, but more importantly, how I convey their big-picture significance. While some employees may struggle to adjust, by emphasizing thorough communication through curating responses, I boost their sense of morale and capacity to see beyond their role.

In the end, by giving team members an opportunity to voice content, not only do we improve communication in the office, but also with our clients and customers.

The Value of Round Table Discussions Dec 13, 2018

Show notes

Before speaking to the executive team, I like to spend time with frontline employees.

If you want to find out what's going on in a company and what people are thinking, you have to talk with the people who are on the frontline interacting with your customers.

In this episode, I share how we have roundtable discussions with the frontline employees. We start with an icebreaker and explain why we're there. We give them a list of questions to answer individually on post-it notes. They have 10-15 minutes to answer 5 questions and we do 3 rounds of this. Afterward, we read the responses, ask additional questions, and have a discussion to learn more. It sometimes takes time for people to start speaking up but it's always great feedback.

If you do a roundtable discussion, you have to be ready to act. The worst thing you can do is have one of these sessions where people open up but you do nothing about it. This is worse than never asking at all.

We ask questions in these areas: culture, processes, and leadership

Something to remember is that if you don't fix the employee experience first, you're never going to get to the customer experience.

In the long run, it's best for companies to facilitate their own roundtable discussions and get to a point where it's normal among their culture. However, if you don't know how to facilitate these it can be beneficial to bring someone from the outside for the first few to get you started.

The solution to almost every business problem you have can be found by talking with your employees and customers.

Prioritize Your Work to Impact Your Culture Dec 06, 2018

Show notes

At Disney, I was responsible for 12,000 cast members. Jody and I talk about how I prioritized things.

Everyone has the same amount of minutes in a day to get things done. It's just about how you use that time.

There is no magical formula and it really is a dilemma. You have to make a list, be relentless about what you prioritize, and put the most important stuff at the top and work your way down. There may be really important things you're not going to get done because something else that's more important took your time.

Everyone wants to get everything done but the reality is that you can't do everything so you have to find other tactics. Either let it go, find a different way to do it, decide you're not going to do it anymore, or delegate it to someone else.

This Eisenhower urgent and important decision matrix is very helpful and helps you decide where to spend your time.

As you go throughout your day, start thinking about this matrix and seeing where your time is spent.

One of the most valuable areas to hone in on are things that are not urgent but important. Find something this week that's important to you but isn't urgent (like a long-term project) and start working on it.

Managing Culture When Your Organization Grows Nov 29, 2018

Show notes

On this episode, we talk with Simon Little of Studio STL in Port Townsend, WA. Simon runs a business that used to be just himself and has now grown to several employees. We discuss some scalability principles he can apply in a small office environment that would make an impact for the staff and clients.

Before anyone worries about scaling though, they should make sure they have the right processes in place. Some examples include making sure you've got the right talent on board, ensuring there is clarity so people know what success looks like, people receive recognition of excellent performance, the lines of communication are open, and there are feedback opportunities. These are things that don't change as you grow.

Culture is all about behaviors and you can be very intentional with that. You don't need to have a large company with a lot of resources in order to have a good culture.

If you're wanting to grow your company, make sure you go ahead and define what the culture is now - write it down on paper! Eventually, when you add more team members, you'll walk them through an orientation and onboarding process to make sure the team members understand why the company exists.

Culture can start to slip away if you don't start feeding it.

At Disney, every person regardless of your role goes through "traditions" which teaches you the history of the company and why it exists. Then they talk about the values of the company, what they should expect, and the 4 keys. Mostly people learn from watching others and seeing how people interact with one another.

Resources mentioned in this episode include the Exploding Kittens card game.

You can find Simon Little and Studio STL Here.

How to Get the Feedback Every Leader Needs Nov 22, 2018

Show notes

We all need feedback to get better. Feedback usually goes from supervisor to employee but sometimes it's good to have feedback going the other direction too - employee to supervisor. However, that's certainly not easy for it to go "up the chain" even though it's beneficial.

There are creative ways to go about this though. For example, I had a voicemail system set up where a cast member could call and leave a voicemail sharing the issue they were having. Sometimes it was anonymous and sometimes I was able to call them back and give them advice on how to solve the problem.

One thing I would do with my direct reports is to have a feedback and action planning meeting. We would get together as a team for a half-day work session discussing what's working and what's not. I'd leave the room and they'd come up with a list of things they'd like me to stop doing, start doing, and continue doing as a leader. This is what we called "stop, start, and continue".

If you can show some vulnerability to getting feedback and let your ego go, you can really improve as a leader. Ignorance is not bliss. You have to be open-minded to feedback from your team.

If you've never done this before, it can seem daunting so I'd start with a friend/coworker you trust and let them know you'd like some honest feedback. Start small and work your way up to a larger group as you get more comfortable with it. This will also build trust with your team.

The worst thing you can do though is to ask for feedback and not make any changes so you have to be ready to change some things if you ask for it. If people are going to be honest in talking with you, you have a responsibility to handle that information in the right way for continual improvement.

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